Written Update For 20th Oct 2007

After a little recap of Friday’s show, Aditya Narayan and all the kids that already performed came on stage to sing “Chota Bachha Jaan Ke”. I probably will say this a gazillion times during Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs International but it was darn cute!

In this episode the children from outside India will perform. Out of these kids only four will be picked to battle the coming weeks for becoming the final champ. But before that a few more champs from the Motherland, who also made it to the show.

First up was Sagar from Mumbai with “Halka Halka” from the movie Chocolate. He seemed to be enjoying singing on stage and overall it was a solid performance.
The next candidate, also from Mumbai, was Shreya Nair. She sang “Mast” from the movie Mast. Here and there she lost control over her voice but she sure has some range! Sonu commented on that very fact by saying that she should stop screaming if else people won’t hear the quality of her voice.
I was a bit surprised that at this stage he would comment on her singing techniques. Not only is this their first performance, the children also have to perform in front of such a huge crowd. I would be screaming too!
But she took the criticism well and I’m looking forward to hear more from her. Also, did anyone notice that without the hair she has a striking resemblance with Abrokanthi from last year?
Carrying on. Smita Nandi from Tripura really rocked the stage with “Yeh Pyaas Kahin” from the movie Fareb. Rohit Shyam from Nagpur wasn’t far behind her with "Dard-e-Disco" from Om Shanti Om. Sonu was very impressed by him and told him that he should definitely be in the top 3 or four.
The last contestant from India was Anamika from Assam with the title song of No entry. It’s not an easy song and I thought she handled it well. The advice given to her by Suresh Wadkar was that she should try and avoid to sing in falsetto as it would give her trouble in later stages.


Now over to the international champs!

Shreya from Bahrain gave us a really sweet version of "Raat Akeli hain" from the movie Jewel Thief. Here and there she went a bit wrong but that didn’t harm her performance much. I do wonder if she knew what the song was about…
From Oman we had Arghya with “Mahiya” from the movie Cash. I hate the song with a passion but won’t hold it against her. What did bother me was a woman in a blue sari dancing like she just saw Sprout showing off his man-boobies. You can imagine the tragedy.
Vibhav from Qatar performed the Shammi Kappoor classic “Aaja Aaja” from the movie Teesri Manzil followed by the first contestant from the USA, Shruti. Shruti sang “Saat Samundar” from the movie Vishwaamtma.
Mailthali, a tiny champ from South Africa, was next with “Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu” from the movie Howrah Bridge. It’s a brilliant song and I think she did a wonderful job at it.
Rupali from Fiji was next with the Golmaal title song followed by Monalisa from Malaysia with “Behta Man Kahin” from the movie Chameli.

Pfiewww more kids? Yes! Yash from the United States performed the title song from the movie Dus followed by the last contestant Anushala. Anushala is from Australia and ended the show wit “Hari Om Hari” from the movie Pyaare Dushman. Love the song, loved her performance and I would’ve loved it if she stayed longer on the show.

Obviously I can’t have everything!

Sonu Nigam and Suresh Wadkar were called on stage to select four children out of the international participants.
Before they announced the names of the lucky four Sonu expressed his appreciation for the parents who flew all the way to India just to know if their child got in. He also mentioned understanding the parents and their expectation as he himself became a parent this year. Yep, it’s true Sonu Nigam became Dady-ji on 26 July 2007!

He also asked Suresh Wadkar, who apparently has set up a lot of schools in India, to put up schools outside India so that the diaspora-children can get a proper training. I had a little oh-yes moment when he said these words. Remember Meenal Jain and Amey Date? They also got their training from a Wadkar school!

Enfin, the kids who will have another chance to perform on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs International 2007 are Shreya, Arghya, Maithali and Rupali. Next week the children from Pakistan, who could not perform because of the Eid celebrations, will also show of their talent. If the Pakistani delegation is just a strong as the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2007 Challenge ones were I will definitely look forward to that episode.

Till next week!


Cheers!